Affiliate Marketing – How I Made $400 from One Facebook Post (without paying for Ads)

I'm sure you have wondered “Can I really make money with affiliate marketing?” Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in extra money OR completely replace your regular income. Many people simply don't do well at all because they just slap links here and there and hope someone buys something. That strategy will NOT produce the results you are hoping for! The number one thing to remember is to never try to SELL them anything! I made over $400 from one Facebook post without paying for any ads or asking them to buy anything.

Many bloggers get tunnel vision when it comes to what affiliate programs they join and only think in terms of what they can promote in their blog posts. Your blog is only ONE place you can use your links! Social media is another excellent place to promote – including your own personal profile. I blog about blogging, but I earned over $400 from one Facebook post on my personal profile (and it had nothing to do with blogging or business)! I also didn't even include my affiliate link in the actual post.

Outside the Box Thinking on Affiliate Marketing

So you are probably wondering how in the heck THAT post generated over $400! As I've stressed before, building trust with your audience and not trying to SELL something are the two most important things when it comes to being successful with affiliate marketing. This applies whether you are writing a blog post about a product or sharing an affiliate product on your business or personal social media.

In the above example, my Facebook friends and family are very familiar with my back issues and how my quality of life had been severely impacted. I started using CBD oil several months ago (on a whim) and it turned out the be the best decision as far as my health. I joined the affiliate program for where I buy my products this was the very first actual attempt at using it on Facebook.

Instead of pushing a product – telling them they NEED to buy this – I simply shared a quick post about my life and how I'm doing so much better now. I knew that many of my friends and family struggle with chronic pain and hoped they would be curious. Since I didn't include a link for the product (again, not trying to sell them anything), I started getting texts and Facebook private messages asking for more information about how it has helped me. This, of course, resulted in me sharing my affiliate link with them so they could buy some to try. Within 2 weeks, I had earned over $400 from that one single post!

Since then, I try to share a similar post about once every few weeks (don't want to overdo it) about my progress or pictures of me being active. I always make sure to change the privacy setting on these to “public” so my friends and family can share it on their own pages. I also decided to write a post about my journey with CBD Oil(created on a page template).

3 Tips for Success with Affiliate Marketing on Social Media

#1 Know Your Audience

Whether from your blog or your personal social media, know your audience (or followers). Know what they want and need and know their pain points. Make sure you are promoting or recommending products/ services that your audience would actually benefit from. I knew that many of my friends and family could relate to the issue of living with and trying to manage chronic pain.

#2 Sell the Value – NOT the product

The best way to fail at affiliate marketing is to try and sell a product! Most people are immediately turned off when they read anything that sounds like a sales advertisement. The key is to sell the actual VALUE of the product or service. In my example above, I sold the dramatic improvement in my quality of life. I barely even mentioned the product in question. When you focus on how a product or service can make their life easier/better, you won't need to focus on the “selling” because the product will sell itself.

#3 Think Beyond the Blog Post

While the majority of your affiliate marketing will be focused towards your blog audience, think beyond that to your own personal life and connections. This opens up more affiliate opportunities than what your blog provides. I blog about blogging, but I promote pet products (I'm a Dobie-mom), Christian products, CBD Oil, and several other things on my personal Facebook because these are products I actually use.

So stop asking “Can I really make money with affiliate marketing” because I'm here to tell ya – YES YOU CAN!! For more tips on ways to monetize your blog and boost your affiliate conversions, be sure to check out my FREE E-Course – How to Monetize Your Blog. Or, if you think you have the basics down and are ready to move on to more advanced strategies, check out Blog Income Boot Camp. This comprehensive course goes into detail on different strategies for boosting affiliate conversions, along with other ways that bloggers earn money.

Just what i needed to hear!I’ve always had an issue with affiliate marketing and I really love your approach where you base it on the value unlike selling to them right away. Will definitely keep this in mind.

I must admit I tend to find most sponsored posts contrived and affiliate links added as an afterthought. I love that your affiliate marketing is a natural evolution of your actual use and lifestyle and will try to incorporate that aspect in future posts myself.

First of all, many Congratulations for such a milestone! I totally agree with you that the best marketing technique is not telling your customers that you’re actually selling something and thanks for sharing some wonderful tips. Can’t wait to try it out and see if that works for me too!

I am still new to affiliate marketing concept. Trying to figure out what I should do and what not. your post has given me amazing tips and your result gave me motivation. Congratulations and keep sharing such amazing tips with us.

I have to think about doing the affiliate sites right now. I know I thought about it a year ago when I went live with my own website. But I haven’t done it yet. I need to do it now or at least get serious with it.

It can be hard a first trying to determine what your audience really needs and wants. Make sure to review your Google Analytics because it can tell you about your audience’s interests. Also, if you use Pinterest, you can get great analytic data from there as well!

I’m very interested in monetising my blog and I’m delighted to see how you made over $400 without any links at all. l like your attitude to selling a product one that is genuinely good will always sell itself.

You just really step back from it all and put yourself in the customer/reader’s perspective. How can this product solve your problem? Once you figure that part out, it starts getting easier and the conversions will start increasing!

I have seriously been planning to make some money without having to spend on ads and chanced upon this blog of yours. I loved the suggestions given by you and would love to try my hands on affiliate marketing.

I used to really struggle with getting conversions on my affiliate links because I was simply trying to hard to sell my audience a product. When I figured out how to personalize it, I started seeing more and more conversions. It can be difficult at first to think outside of the blog to really connect with your audience.

Hi Girl Bosses! I'm LeeAnn and I'm a retired Navy Veteran turned Blogger and Success Coach! I strive to inspire and empower others to dream big and find their passion to build the life God intended for them. Read More…

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About LeeAnn

Hey there Girl Bosses! I'm LeeAnn and I'm a retired Navy Veteran, Mom, Girl Boss Ninja Coach, Blogger, Veteran Advocate, and lover of everything Jesus and Doberman! My goal in life is to empower and inspire other women and provide them the tools to be the GIRL BOSSES God meant for them to be!

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